NEW YORK – Careful, now. It’s all dark and gloomy out there, all foreboding.

Not at all like the light at the end of a New York tunnel, not at all the harbinger of celebration and victory champagne.

The Angels are, understandably, feeling rather good about themselves at the moment.

They survived a marathon that doubled as a baseball game on Friday night, knocking out Randy Johnson, watching the Yankees charge back for a 6-5 lead and then just keeping the pressure on in an impressive 11-7 victory. A victory that leaves them one game from advancing to the American League Championship Series.

One very big game, the hardest game to win.

For as well as the Angels are playing right now, they’d best eliminate anything that remotely resembles overconfidence.

It’s not they’re in obvious danger of slipping down this currently wet slope, but it is something they very much need to keep in mind.

There is still work to be done with the Yankees, still another game to be won.

When the heavens continued to open Saturday, forcing the postponement of Game 4 until tonight, many of the unexpected off-day questions turned to the waiting Chicago White Sox.

And inner alarms should have rung. Warning systems that shut mouths and forced all responses to the evasive variety.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia was already being asked Saturday his evaluation of the White Sox ease in defeating Boston.

Best answer: Haven’t given the White Sox a single thought; only focusing on beating the Yankees.

Given response: “Outside of Game 1, those games were nip-and-tuck the whole way. I haven’t analyzed those series very thoroughly because of the work that we have in front of us.

“But we’ll look at them and we’ll break it down if we’re fortunate enough to get past these guys (Yankees) and get to Chicago, we’ll look at those games and see what is happening. But right now, there’s not a lot that we’re looking at past (Sunday’s) ballgame.”

Right general neighborhood, just not a home run. The Angels’ sole focus must continue to be the Yankees, because they are not going to suddenly cower and wait for elimination.

Their offense remains dangerous. They are playing at home. And it’s not like Angels starter Jarrod Washburn has been lights-out all season; he’s been battling elbow tendinitis.

The Yankees are a prideful bunch with no interest in losing, but particularly so in suffering some ignoble defeat at Yankee Stadium as they did last season when their collapse against the Red Sox echoed throughout the next year.

If the Angels have serious designs on ending this series tonight and heading for Chicago, they will have to play their finest game yet against New York.

Fortunately for the Angels, their style of play works against anything approaching the swollen head. They win by pushing the action, by stretching every opportunity, with good pitching and sometimes brilliant defense.

“To the Angels’ credit, they are a relentless team,” Johnson said. “When you don’t make a play – regardless of who you are – they’re going to make you pay.”

One edge the Angels might have over the Yankees is simply their past success against them. They eliminated them in ’02 and just generally play them tougher than anybody in baseball.

In the unacknowledged recesses of their minds, you wonder if the Yankees wonder whether the Angels just don’t have their number.

And now once again, the Angels seemingly have the Yankees on the ropes.

“You have a club on the ropes when you’re squeezing the last out and you’re clinching the division,” Scioscia said. “That’s when you have a team on the ropes.

“This series, the momentum will switch pitch-to-pitch and inning-to-inning and game-to-game. There’s no advantage until you get that last out squeezed in your glove and you’ve clinched the series.”

The exact attitude to have, the exact approach the Angels need take into tonight’s game, weather permitting.

The Angels spent their Saturday in Manhattan as showers continued to fall, darkness surrounding the skyscrapers, the ubiquitous neon left in an odd glow.

If not ominous, it should have at least served as warning that darker times can lurk just around the corner in the postseason.

“What you want to do is focus on that first pitch (tonight),” Scioscia said. “You can’t get caught up in the momentum swings. You have to keep playing baseball.”

There is one more big victory to be had in this round, and for all their encouraging play, the Angels must approach it like it’s the toughest to earn.

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